FREEONTOUR

Anreisetag: Los gehts in Hechingen

Our “Dumbo” and our darling Chico are ready to go, so let’s go :)))

The outward journey is planned via Switzerland and the return journey via Austria, let's see what goes better for us ;)

Zollernalbkreis, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland

48° 21' 9.2" N 8° 57' 51.1" E

48.3525529 8.9642047

Lugano Area Sosta Camper

On Friday afternoon, after work, we set off from home in a relaxed manner with the idea of completing about 2/3 of the route and then spending the night as we had only booked our campsite in Bardolino from Saturday.

We then found our stopover via Park4Night and spent a quiet night in Lugano.

Simple parking space, but super organized with electricity, water, sewage. Gassiweg directly adjacent. Payment depends on the duration (we paid 18 francs a night, which we think is ok for Swiss standards). We would use it again for one night!

Via Clemente Maraini, Lugano, Distretto di Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland

46° 0' 0.1" N 8° 56' 47.5" E

46.0000153 8.9465275

Peschiera del Garda

After coffee and a little walk, we leisurely set off towards our destination: Lake Garda!

Since we were still early, we decided to start our first sightseeing on the way to Bardolino and make a stop to look at the nice and really cute little town of Peschiera del Garda.

There are plenty of parking options relatively close to the center and even free!

The “old town island” is really nice and the canals are beautiful.

After a stroll and (of course) Italian pasta, we drove on to our campsite

Via Bell'Italia, Peschiera del Garda, Verona, Venetien, Italien

45° 27' 4.7" N 10° 39' 49" E

45.4512932 10.6636069

Camping Continental

We arrived at our booked campsite around 4 p.m.

It's right on the lake, also has a pool, a mini market and a restaurant and that's more than we need ;)

The sanitary facilities are also very good.

Most of the seats have natural shade and from the third row we even have a side view of the lake :)

We were super happy with the place and would definitely come back!

Everything was perfect, and the location is just great!

Gardesana, 37011, Bardolino, Italy

45° 33' 22" N 10° 43' 6" E

45.5561100 10.7183300

Guten Morgen Gardasee :)

Today we originally wanted to spend the day calmly and “arrive”, enjoy the lake and maybe explore the pool ;)

In the morning, on the first walk straight from the site, we were greeted by the beautiful view of the lake, the Lungolago is really beautiful and leads away from the campsite on both sides, towards Bardolino and Garda

Bardolino

After breakfast we decided to explore the path towards Bardolino along the lake and suddenly we were at the beginning of the old town and promenade quicker than we thought and taking this opportunity we decided to take a look at Bardolino straight away and we were very positive impressed by the beautiful town! Strolling through the old but well-kept streets and the view of the lake: incredible!

AbendSpaziergang am Lungo Lago

In the evening we were rewarded again with an incredibly beautiful sunset

Lazise

Today we took the ferry from Bardolino to Lazise. There and back with dog 18€.

We actually wanted to go with the 10:20 a.m. ship but that was canceled spontaneously (?) so it was 11:18 a.m.

Lazise is as beautiful a town as Bardolino. Very winding little streets with old and well-preserved, well-kept buildings, San Nicolo as a special old church, the nice harbor and again an incredibly beautiful view of the lake that just totally reminds us of the sea. The entire old town is surrounded by the old city wall, which makes everything even more special

The return trip went great.

Verona, Venetien, Italien

45° 30' 18.7" N 10° 43' 58.9" E

45.5052005 10.7330245

Strandtag

Today we took a break for a day and made ourselves comfortable on the beach :)

Via Venezia, Bardolino, Verona, Italy

45° 33' 27.1" N 10° 42' 57.4" E

45.5575213 10.7159353

Beer Garden Bardolino

Towards the evening we walked towards Bardolino again and had a great meal at the “Beer Garden” with a fantastic view

Sirmione

Once again we went to Bardolino in the morning and took the ferry to Sirmione at 9:50 a.m. This time our dog was free and the two of us paid €39.20 there and back. The journey takes about 1 hour, but it's very entertaining as you have great views!

Sirmione was (as feared) a little more crowded than the other cities so far, but this was mainly noticeable in the old town and around the “hotspots”.

The Scaliger Castle, which we didn't visit from the inside, is definitely impressive and the historic old town always has great places to offer with magnificent views, old walls, churches and parks.

We walked to the top and looked at the Grottoes of Catullus. The entrance fee is €9 per person but we thought it was worth it, if only for the unforgettable views…

Afterwards we went to Jamaica Beach and sat down at the bar and let the fascination of the rocks and the crystal clear water with its great play of colors work its magic on us...

The last return trip was at 5:10 p.m. and the time went by very quickly.

Sirmione is really worth seeing, especially the top in our opinion.

It was a great day

Jamaica Beach

This beach is simply amazing

Italien

45° 30' 9" N 10° 36' 21.4" E

45.5025133 10.6059494

Start des Weinfestes in Bardolino

Today we took it easy during the day and wanted to go to the famous wine festival in Bardolino in the evening.

We had been able to follow the construction over the last few days and were very excited to see what awaited us...

We were there at 5 p.m. and the later it got, the busier it became. We walked through a few times (but there are only food and wine stalls, so nothing big to look at) but then decided to eat away from the hustle and bustle in one of the quiet streets and ended up at the Pizzeria Due Torri and had very tasty pizzas!

Afterwards it was even more crowded and quite loud and we returned to our campsite early (mainly because of our dog) accompanied by another incredibly beautiful sunset

Weiter geht die Reise

Today is the day to leave, unfortunately with a somewhat sad mood because we really enjoyed it here and would have liked to stay until the rest of our vacation, but since we had to plan and book, we decided in advance to take the northern part of Lake Garda with us and so we left Today we're heading up a bit to Malcesine.

In the morning we enjoyed the view of the lake again and treated ourselves to a small breakfast at the bar cinema on the beach after our morning walk.

Since you can check out here until 2 p.m. and we didn't have any major plans for today, we took our time

Camping Campagnola

After a stopover at the Eurospar in Malcesine, we arrived at around 2 p.m. after a 45-minute drive.

The place is beautifully laid out and offers a variety of places. We were allowed to choose one and immediately felt at home.

The proximity of the mountains takes some getting used to for us. We both like mountains, but we prefer them far away ;)

It's a very quiet, peaceful place, unfortunately the only thing that bothers you is the car noise from Via Gardesana, but that's the case (I think) in the entire northern side...

In the evening we took a short walk along the lake (unfortunately the beautifully landscaped footpath and cycle path is right on the main road) with a beautiful mountain panorama. Unfortunately there are no sunsets anymore because they disappear behind the mountain a little earlier...

Via Gardesana Orientale 390, Malcesine, Verona, Venetien, Italien

45° 47' 14.2" N 10° 49' 21.7" E

45.7872662 10.8226901

Malcesine

Today it was the turn of the next city tour: Malcesine with the (supposedly) most beautiful old town on all of Lake Garda, we were excited

From the campsite we walked the 2.5 km along the path along the lake, a very nice panorama, unfortunately on the left completely accompanied by the main road…

The castle stands out from afar and looks great with the mountains and the lake! Immediately in front of it you turn up into the old town.

We went to the castle first and I went in too (my husband with his dog stayed outside because our Chico is no longer fit to run and there were a lot of stairs inside) and was rewarded with great views! There are many different height stages, you can get to the top of the tower if you want, and also various museums and works of art.

Afterwards we went straight through the old town and the alleys, which was a bit stressful for us with dog carts because it was very, very crowded and the alleys were also very narrow.

At the harbor we watched the hustle and bustle for a while with a drink and then decided to head back early because it was just too crowded and too hot for us...

Malcesine definitely has a really great old town but we just couldn't enjoy it because of the crowds.

So we decided that we wouldn't go to Limone the next day, but we would have had to go to the port of Malcesine again and then take the ferry to the next crowded town with narrow streets and we didn't feel like doing that anymore .

We were even thinking about driving towards Bardolino again for the last 1.5 days but would there be anything free? Instead, we decided to just relax again the next day and have a nice dinner in the evening and then prepare for the drive home...

Verona, Venetien, Italien

45° 32' 51.2" N 10° 43' 27.2" E

45.5475595 10.7242145

Letzter Tag

On the last morning we took another walk on the promenade and spent some time at the lake: enjoying the beautiful water and the mountains again and watching the paragliders and water sports enthusiasts...

At lunchtime we simply stayed at the campsite and enjoyed the peace and quiet again until everyday life started again...

Ca Vecchia

We had made a reservation for the evening at the Agriturismo Ca' Vecia', which also belongs to the family of our campsite, and we were very, very excited!!! Location great, service great and the food was very tasty and also great price! Highly recommended and a nice ending for us

Via Navene Vecchia, Navene, Verona, Veneto, Italy

45° 47' 24" N 10° 49' 38.9" E

45.7899914 10.8274778

Heimfahrt und Résumé

Unfortunately, today is the big day of departure…

We set off leisurely in the morning and wanted to drive again as long as we (and especially our Chico) wanted to and also left a day's buffer for an overnight stay.

Our personal opinion on Lake Garda:

We love it and will definitely come back!!! However, we like the lower part much better, not necessarily in terms of landscape, but there the people are spread out better and you have more space, both from the water and from the cities.

What bothered us a lot in the northern part is simply this main street that can never be ignored or overlooked. The road takes away an incredible amount of idyll and that wasn't the case in the southeast.

We would immediately go back to the corner of Bardolino and also to the southwest side and corner of Salo, but the north just couldn't convince us to come back for longer...

So and now arrivederci Lago di Garda :)

All good things must come to an end and as the campers always say:

After the holiday is before the holiday ;)

Wohnmobilstellplatz Fischen im Allgäu

As predicted, we made another stopover.

After almost 8 hours of driving (this time via Austria but no big traffic jam, just stop & go every now and then) and with a small detour, we were drawn to our favorite corner of the Allgäu: the Hörnerdörfer. Luckily, we managed to get a small place to stay overnight on the parking space in Fischen. It was packed and that's why there were exceptions from the public order office (the parking spaces are all run by the city) to stand more or less all over the place before standing illegally in nature , said the nice lady who collected the money. Without electricity, we paid €18 for 2 adults and were allowed to stay until 4 p.m. the next day. There is a short footpath across the road through the forest, which takes you either to Fischen or to the Iller.